While Phil was busy sending "sexy" flags out...

... the isotope crisis reached Brantford.

According to a report from the past week, Dr. Christopher O'Brien, president of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine, says 75 people at his hospital in Brantford are waiting for scans that require isotopes. "These patients will eventually get their tests done; we just don't know when. It's serious in the sense that I don't know if I'm missing cancer on patients who are waiting to get the tests," said O'Brien. Some Ontario hospitals have coped with the shortage by cancelling non-urgent tests. But now the shortage is so acute that some are faced with postponing procedures. O'Brien describes the situation at his hospital as precarious. Phil McColeman MP for Brant who has yet to bring any local issues to Ottawa like he promised; did not mention this or land claims during this legislative session, he only made false claims this year. Luckily one Member of Parliament from British Columbia did raise this issue, Dr. Keith Martin, whose Constituency Office is 4300 km/ 41 hour drive away from the Brantford General Hospital! On Thursday, June 11 he rose in the House of Commons to ask:

Hon. Keith Martin (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about thallium as an option. We have learned today that the supply of thallium is running out. At Brantford General Hospital, 75 patients right now are waiting for the tests that they need.

I want to ask the minister a simple question. What is her plan and when is she going to release the plan to enable Canadians to have access to isotopes and the thallium that they need for the tests that they require to save their lives?

Where was Phil on this? If a Member of Parliament from across the country is a better advocate of local issues than our current Member of Parliament for Brant, one has to ask what the hell is Phil doing in Ottawa??? The kind of questions Phil asked this year are enough for an end-of-session post...

Here's a good comparison of a productive Member of Parliament and...Phil:

Minister Finley makes sure the trained seal on her left is clapping in unison...

Phil puts the FLAG in flagrant disrespect!

MP's flag decal violates official national protocol

I am writing with regards to the flagrant disrespect of the Canadian flag that is being shown by our elected federal representative, Mr. McColeman. Not only is this no more than a feeble attempt at commercializing our flag and Canada Day, it certainly does violate normally accepted protocol for the use of the national flag of Canada. According to Canadian Heritage Dignity of the Flag, "nothing should be pinned to or sewn on the National Flag of Canada" and "The National Flag of Canada should not be signed or marked in any way." Mr. McColeman may find ways to interpret the printing of his website along the border of the flag as being acceptable, but I, along with many other individuals, find it reprehensible.

Furthermore, I believe that Mr. McColeman and the Conservative Party may have violated the intended privacy of the National Register of Electors, since: "Under the law, the voters list is shared with registered political parties and members of the House of Commons each year, as well as with candidates during an electoral event. The information shared consists only of electors' names and addresses. By law, parties and members of the House of Commons may use this information for communicating with electors, such as in soliciting contributions and recruiting members. Improper use of the information contained in a voters list is an offence." Although Mr. McColeman may be "communicating with electors" I believe that the manner in which he has used this list is inappropriate. And, obviously, he did not bother to "scrub" the list to eliminate duplicate individuals in a household, so he has therefore wasted more of his advertising budget (which still comes from the taxpayers' coffers I am sure).

As for me, we proudly fly a Canadian flag on our front porch. We don't need some paper commercial image which breaks flag protocol and proper ethical use of private citizens' information. Mr. McColeman and his cronies don't need to count me in their sham poll; we recognize Canada and our Flag proudly every day of the year.

Gary Ferris Brantford

and

Real surprise for our MP will come in next election

I couldn't agree more with Lloyd St. Amand about the advertising package we, as constituents, received from Mr. McColeman.

As soon as I saw that our MP had the audacity to put his email address on the bottom of a flag, the entire package went to the trash. As did the one mailed to my deceased mother.
Mr. McColeman is surprised at people's reaction to this. Not half as surprised as he will be during the next election when we remember how he chose to waste taxpayers' money.

A suggestion, Mr. McColeman, would be to use some of your monies to update your files.

Elizabeth V. Smith Brantford

Phil decorates the Canadian flag...

Brant MP makes 'no apologies' for flag decals
When a two-year old decides to write on the walls with a marker or crayons, it is completely innocent and cute even. When a Member of Parliament decides to use taxpayers' money and the Canadian flag as advertising space, it is completely ridiculous and disrespectful: Lawyer Lloyd St. Amand called The Expositor on Monday to express concern over the recent mailout of 76,000 Canadian flag decals by Phil McColeman; the flags, paid for out of McColeman's member's advertising budget, carry in red letters on the bottom McColeman's web address - www.philmccolemanmp.ca. Phil responded "That's what the budget's intended for. I'm actually quite flabbergasted that people are criticizing this."
Phil you're not flabbergasted, you're an idiot! Heritage Canada has a page on their website on "flag etiquette" for morons like Phil. He should read it as soon as possible, after reimbursing taxpayers, apologizing to his constituents and a time-out like the two-year old who writes on the wall. After mailing out coupons to his constituents, I would have thought Phil would have learned by now...
On another note I was reading about incremental conservatism by Professor Tom Flanagan, a former Conservative campaign manager. I think I know what incremental conservatism is...

This must be what Phil's promised funding is being used for...

This is what MP for Brant, Phil McColeman and Aboriginal Affairs Ministers Chuck Strahl do with the money that was reannounced for the Water Treatment Plant... while residents of Oshweken have to boil their water, their Member of Parliament is hard at work.

Judging by all the infrastructure projects that have been announced and not given a penny, this must be what the Conservaive government finds as a stimulus...